Lincoln Holds Center Stage at Tiny Theater

In a tiny log cabin at the end of a half-mile dirt road here, Abraham Lincoln and his family are brought to life every Sunday afternoon through the magic of theater.

Fifteen original, hourlong plays about the life and times of the 16th President have been presented at the Groves Abraham Lincoln Cabin Theatre for the past eight years, week in and week out--except for July and August when it is too hot.

Groves is Bill Groves, 64, a tall, spindly actor, director and playwright who has a lifelong fascination with Old Abe. Groves writes, directs, produces and portrays Lincoln in all the plays except for the current production, “Mrs. Lincoln’s Insanity Trial.”

“I cannot believe this trial is taking place. But I’m sure it is because I’m the presiding judge,” says Groves as Judge Bailey in the opening scene of his latest play.

Mary Todd Lincoln’s trial opened in May, 1875, at the Cook County Courthouse, 10 years after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. In bringing the insanity charges against his mother, Robert Lincoln shocked Chicago and the nation.

“The performances are all based on historic fact. Nothing is made up,” Groves said. “While one play is in production, we’re working on the next one, and I’m busy researching and writing still another.”

Groves Abraham Lincoln Cabin Theatre is the smallest of the 50 theaters in the Palm Springs, Indio and High Desert region, seating only 32. The 1930s house is the size of the tiny Kentucky log cabin where Lincoln was born.

What unfolds is award-winning theater, with highly charged and emotional performances.

Last year, the Lincoln players won top honors at the annual Desert Theatre League competition at the Annenberg Theater in Palm Springs. They were awarded best drama, best director, best actor, best actress, best supporting actor and best original writing for their performance of “The Man Who Won the Civil War.”

Groves has been a member of the Screen Actors Guild for 32 years and is a member of the New York and West Coast Dramatists Guild. He has appeared in episodes of “Knight Rider,” “Quincy,” “Bonanza,” “Rawhide” and numerous other TV and film productions.

He also portrays Lincoln in productions in other theaters, at schools throughout the desert and at elementary schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. His wife, Joy, a high school teacher, joins him as Mary Todd Lincoln.

“So far as I know, ours is the only theater in the United States exclusively doing Lincoln plays,” Groves said.

In “Mrs. Lincoln’s Insanity Trial,” nuclear medicine technologist Ken Guinn portrays Dr. Danforth, who describes Mrs. Lincoln’s hallucinations, the strange voices she hears and the taps on the table she perceives as being from her late husband.

“It is difficult to testify against such a fine First Lady who lost her entire family except one son and is ridiculed by society for her eccentric ways,” says the doctor, who nonetheless concludes that “Mary Todd Lincoln is mentally incompetent and a fit subject for a mental institution.”

Piano teacher Virginia Jaroch, as Mrs. Lincoln’s housekeeper, Mrs. Harrington, calls the President’s wife “crazy as a loon who needs to be looked after. To think she was once a First Lady of our country. It’s a damn shame, a damn shame.”

Scott Bachman, a mail carrier and a Lincoln player for four years, portrays Robert Lincoln. He testifies that “my brother Taddy’s death was just too much for my mother. Every night she wakes up terrified.”

As Mrs. Lincoln, Joy Groves cries out: “You are no longer my son. I rue the day I gave birth to you. Your father would turn in his grave. You’ll have to answer to him.”

The lights in the house dim as Bill Groves is heard saying: “On May 21, 1875, a jury of 12 men found Mary Todd Lincoln insane and she was sent to a mental institution.”

Other Lincoln plays by Groves include “Lincoln vs. Booth, the Showdown,” “Mrs. Lincoln Died Today” and the musicals “That Hellcat, Mrs. Lincoln” and “A Musical Evening With Abe Lincoln.”

After the performances, Bill and Joy Groves, the cast and production staff serve apple cider and cookies and visit with the audience.

Reservations are necessary and hard to come by. Even in downpours, with the road leading to the theater a sea of mud, all 32 folding chairs are taken.

“This is my avocation,” Groves said, noting that he does not charge admission. “If people want to leave a donation, fine. It helps. This is a labor of love for all of us involved.”